A Thanksgiving Feast
by CandC1988
Summary: Shaggy is holed up in the hospital on Thanksgiving.


Disclaimer: I do not own Scooby Doo or any of its characters.

A Thanksgiving Feast

Velma

I had never really liked Thanksgiving. The food, the loud groups of people, and the football games had just never appealed to me. Shaggy on the other hand, well, Thanksgiving was his holiday. He loved food, I remember one time I took him with me to my Thanksgiving dinner and he ate everything in sight, well, he and Scooby did. And Shaggy had never been intimidated by big groups of people like I was every time I went home, he would just make jokes and have everybody laughing. And as for football, while I did not understand all the rules or even the point of football, Shaggy might not have cared too much, but he could still carry on a decent conversation about a football game that was on.

But, this Thanksgiving was different for all of us. Shaggy had been in the hospital since our last mission more than a week ago. He had blood loss, a broken leg and a broken arm. This injury had really scared all of us because we had never had such a bad injury happen during our many mysteries. And the worst part of all was that Shaggy was going to miss out on his favorite holiday because he was holed up in the hospital.

And it had affected the whole gang in some way. Scooby Doo was depressed because he couldn't go to the hospital because they didn't allow pets, and therefore hadn't seen his best friend in a week. Fred, I think, somehow thought the whole thing was his fault, and spent every waking moment at the hospital. Even if it wasn't visiting hours he would sit out in the waiting room. I guess he thought that he should have protected Shaggy. And then Daphne, well, she hadn't visited Shaggy once. I had never known Daphne was afraid of hospitals until this had happened. She wouldn't even talk about any of it, no matter what we tried. And then there was me, and I guess I was handling it "healthier" than everybody else, visiting Shaggy once a day in the hospital. However, I spent every moment not at the hospital in my lab.

"Velm?" I heard a quiet voice say behind me. I looked up and twirled around to see Fred standing in my doorway.

00000

Fred

I knew Shaggy's injuries all had to be my fault. I, as the leader, should have been able to help him, should have been injured in his place if it came down to it. I had failed and I knew it. And now I wanted to make up for it.

Velma looked up at me expectantly as I waited inside her laboratory door, so I continued, "I think we should bring Thanksgiving to Shaggy."

As I could see the wheels turning in her head about whether or not this was a good idea, I sat down. I knew that she was thinking about several things, one of which most have been about my willingness to do this because my family usually had such a big Thanksgiving and was the one time of the year that our entire family really got together. What I had to make her see was that Mystery Inc. was way more of a family to me than the people I ate Thanksgiving with.

"I think that's a great idea," Velma finally smiled at me, "but how are we going to pull it off?"

"Oh, I already have an idea," I smiled, "and even a way to get Scooby in to see his best friend."

00000

Velma was supposed to find Scooby and tell him about how were going to sneak him into the hospital, whereas I had received the worse end of the deal by having to go and talk to Daphne and try and talk her into coming.

"Daph?" I said quietly as I knocked on her door. She answered it, arching an eyebrow at me in her very diva way as she let me come in.

"Yes Fred?" she asked curtly as I sat down in a chair and she sat down in another one.

"Um, so Velma and I decided that we were going to throw Shaggy a Thanksgiving in the hospital celebration, and we're even dressing Scooby up as a human and he'll hopefully pass muster, but we wanted the entire group to be there, so would you like to come?" I said, in a rush. Daphne seemed to be considering. While Thanksgiving had always been a big thing in my family, Daphne had once informed me that for many years she didn't even celebrate Thanksgiving and just had whatever their maid whipped up because her parents were always gone. In fact, she hadn't even celebrated her first Thanksgiving until she'd gone with me to my celebration one year.

"No," Daphne said abruptly, standing up, "I should have known you were going to try and talk me into seeing Shaggy."

"Why don't you want to go?" I demanded to know

"Because … because I don't like hospitals," Daphne sighed, "and if we're asking questions why must you be there all the time?"

"Fine, don't come," I didn't even bother answering her question, "but Shaggy will be upset."

I left and walked back towards Velma's lab. That had pretty much gone as I had expected it to, but I knew I had planted the seeds in Daphne's head. And hopefully before tomorrow she would come around and join us at the hospital.

"Did she respond well?" Velma asked me anxiously as she joined me in the lab a little bit later.

"Not well at all," I shrugged. I could sense her disappointment, so I continued, "look Velmster, I didn't really expect her to say yes. The old Fred-meister just wanted to plant the idea in her head about coming. You know how Daph gets, when she gets scared, she gets really scared."

0000

Shaggy

I was having the worst time of my life in the hospital. My best friend, Scooby Doo, wasn't allowed in the hospital because he was a dog, no matter how many times I and my friends tried to explain to the nurse that he wasn't just a dog, he was a smart dog. So, here I was having a very un-groovy time.

Not to mention the fact that today was Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving. I love food and Thanksgiving is the mother load of holidays on food-eating.

"Jenkies Fred," I could hear Velma say as her voice drew nearer, "I can't believe we actually passed Scooby off."

"Scooby!" I shouted as my best friend bound into the room, jumping on my bed (as best he could considering the cast I had on my leg) and began licking my face.

"Row row row Raggy," Scooby informed me, which I knew could only mean that he had missed me. Then, I turned to look at a very amused Fred and Velma, each holding a small dish in their hands.

"Happy Thanksgiving," Velma smiled, setting the dish on a nearby table and coming to give me a hug.

"Where's Daph?" I asked. I knew immediately that I had touched on a sore subject when both of them cringed.

"She is, um, well, she's not coming," Fred said, as apologetic as he could. I felt all the joy that I had from seeing Scooby leave me when I realized that the group wouldn't all be together, but I smiled anyways.

"We'll still have a groovy Thanksgiving without her," I assured Fred and Velma, who both looked downcast. Scooby nodded his head in agreement.

"Yeah," Velma smiled back, and then Fred smiled.

"So, what kind of food did you bring me?" I asked in excitement, "hospital food will only get people so far, including me!"

"Turkey," Velma proclaimed, opening her dish in a hurry, "and pumpkin pie."

"Sorry, we couldn't bring much," Fred shrugged, "this is the best we could do. And the two foods that seemed the most to represent Thanksgiving."

I could tell Velma and Fred looked sad, so I decided to try and cheer them up.

"Hey, you guys didn't have to go through all this trouble for me," I said lightly, "I'll be out of her in no time and we'll be going back to solving mysteries and me being scared witless."

"And I promise I won't let anything like this happen to you again," Fred said fiercely, "You were right to be scared. If it wasn't for my stupid plan, then you wouldn't be here."

"If I wasn't so scared of everything, then I wouldn't be here," I informed Fred, "that's the reason I ended up here."

"I know it is my fault," Fred said, shaking his head, "even though I thank you for trying to make me feel better."

"It's not your fault Fred," a voice spoke up from the door to the room. We all looked up and saw Daphne leaning against the doorframe.

99999

Daphne

"Daphne, I didn't think you were coming," Fred said in surprise as I walked into the room. I hadn't actually planned on coming, but realized that Shaggy probably needed me. I just didn't see how Fred could blame himself for the whole thing when it was clearly Daphne's fault. For being the damsel in distress and getting kidnapped. Again.

"You can't blame yourself," I insisted as I walked into the room, and then I saw Shaggy, who was giving me a wide smile.

"Long time no see," he said, but I knew he meant it in a way not to make me feel bad.

"Sorry," I whispered, "I just hate being at hospitals. No matter how much I wanted to see you."

"We're going to go find some plates," Fred instructed as him and Velma left the room. Velma looked ready to protest, but I was sure that Fred knew how I felt. After all, he had been blaming himself the entire time.

I walked over to the bed and took Shaggy's hand into mine and he just gave it a squeeze.

"It's not your fault either," Shaggy told me after they had left. I looked at him in surprise.

"I know you are blaming yourself, but it iss really not your fault," he continued.

"But, I was the one you guys had to rescue," I protested.

"We always have to rescue you," he waved off, "and I always screw it up."

"Thanks Shaggy," I whispered, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"It is good to know that through all of this trauma that you have been put through you still know how to dress and I still look clothing challenged," Shaggy joked, looking at my perfectly attired outfit and then at his own hospital gown.

"Nope, I think you look great," I laughed.

"Let's get our Thanksgiving dinner under way!" Fred shouted as Velma and he came back in with plates, forks, napkins, and some more food that looked like it was from the hospital cafeteria. They both stopped short, looking at the fact that I was still holding onto Shaggy's hand, which I dropped quickly, even though I could still feel Shaggy's smile on me.

"Happy Thanksgiving," I quickly said, "and, I have a surprise."

"Yeah?" the whole gang eagerly said as the five of us began to pile our food up with plates, each of us bringing one of the dishes to Shaggy so he could decide how big of a portion he wanted.

"Once Shaggy gets all better, I have a new mystery for us to solve!" I excitedly said.

"I don't want a scary adventure," Shaggy nearly whined. Scooby barked his agreement.

"Come on," I whined back, "My uncle is losing the value of his property because people keep telling him it is haunted when it is clearly not."

"We're there," Fred smiled, after looking for confirmation from me and Velma, and even Shaggy who had reluctantly shook his head, along with Scooby. A new adventure was about to begin. But not until after we enjoyed our Thanksgiving Feast.


End file.
